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Chapter 63: The Hero Faction (IV)
🕑 Added 2024-09-18 14:32:12 +0000 UTC10+ Advance Chapters: patreon.com/Accel14
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Light continued to gather around Cao Cao's spear, the weapon starting to tremor with unmatched intensity and he prepared to enter his [Balance Breaker].
"I'll help," a high-pitched voice spoke. Belonging to a short, dark-skinned young boy with grayish-blue hair and violet eyes. Wearing a long coat with a red and black color scheme.
"Leonardo? What are you doing?" Cao Cao asked.
"You can't beat him on your own, so I'm going to help you." Even though he was just a child, Leonoardo was in possession of one of the top four Longinus, [Annihilation Maker].
"No, you should be helping Georg–" Both members of the Hero Faction froze in place, ghastly looks appearing on their faces as the mist around them that had been created from Georg's [Dimension Lost] started to dissipate, both Cao Cao and Leonardo unable to detect the Vice-Leaders presence anymore.
"So he decided to end it early," Takauji mused to himself while sitting on the railing with his feet dangling in the air. "He probably got hungry or something."
Cao Cao's grip on [True Longinus] tightened, his nails digging into his palm as he felt the loss of not only Georg, but Jeanne, and Siegfried as well.
But he could mourn them later, right now there was a terrifyingly strong Dragon in front of him that required his attention.
"Pandora, do you mind if I ask you something?" Cao Cao spoke.
"Sure."
"Between you and that Fallen Angel, who's stronger?"
"Not sure, we were both pretty even when we fought, but we didn't have a chance to finish our spar." He scratched his chin while in thought. "Oh, but I did beat him in Uno, so I think that makes me stronger."
Flawless logic.
"I see," Cao Cao turned to Leonardo. "You still haven't unlocked [Balance Breaker] correct?"
"Unfortunately not," the boy replied with evident disappointment.
"Then just stay back and give me support with your Anti-Monsters, I'll handle all the close combat."
"Understood."
Takauji smiled, hopping off the railing as he started to approach the two Longinus wielders.
"Alrighty, looks like the both of you are prepared for round two." The [Touki] surrounding him grew stronger, his muscles tightening and starting to bulge as they radiated with truly Draconic intensity. "Go on then Cao Cao, show me the [Balance Breaker] of the strongest Sacred Gear in existence. Allow me to see if the Biblical God's finest creation is enough to stop me."
Cao Cao took a deep breath, calling upon the near endless well of energy that came from the Holy Spear in his hands, beckoning [True Longinus] to lend him its strength.
[𝔹𝕒𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝔹𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜: ℙ𝕠𝕝𝕒𝕣 ℕ𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕃𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕦𝕤 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕜𝕣𝕒𝕧𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕟]
A halo of light appeared above Cao Cao's head, with seven identical orbs surrounding him.
Not the flashiest of [Balance Breakers], but the power Takauji felt looming from it was something worth admiration.
"Nice," Takauji gave him a thumbs up, proceeding to look towards Leonardo. "And what about you?"
Leonardo pointed his open palms towards the ground, causing an influx of pink energy with black highlights to start coursing through the entirety of the battlefield.
"Oh?" Hundreds of monsters that had to be at least five meters or more in height surrounded Takauji, each of them containing a certain property that he instinctively recognised. "You gave them each Anti-Dragon abilities? Well done, I doubt it's as strong as something like Ascalon, but you made up for the lack of quality in quantity." Even in the hands of a child, [Annihilation Maker] was still a formabile weapon.
"You don't look very worried," Cao Cao remarked, hoping that Takauji's nonchalant attitude was just a product of plain arrogance.
"Of course not," Takauji pointed the tip of his finger towards one of the monsters. Building up a bit of [Chakra] before unleashing it at the creature like a bullet.
BOOM!
Its frame imploded on itself, unable to handle the eruption of [Chakra] that had just occurred within its body.
"Even if my Mana is ineffective on it, my [Senjutsu] will work just fine." That, combined with the fact that his entire body was coated in [Touki], meant that unless the monsters were able to somehow directly cut into his flesh all their Anti-Dragon properties would be rendered null.
"You're a monster," Cao Cao said with a nervous grin.
"You're the one who chose to stick to the path of a human, almost everyone you fight will be a monster."
Each of the orbs surrounding Cao Cao contained a different ability, for starters he decided to use [Hatthiratana] which gave him the power to make objects levitate to help him fly into the air, giving him a good amount of distance between himself and Takauji.
"That's pointless," but Takauji used his [Umbral Rope], wrapping it around Cao Cao and sending him crashing into one of Leonardo's Anti-Monsters. "And my wings are in the process of growing at the moment, so I'd rather not take this airborne."
Takauji turned around as Cao Cao started to haul himself to his feet, noticing a multitude of creatures born from [Annihilation Maker] rushing at him, presumably to give Cao Cao time to find his balance.
"That was a bad move child, you just reminded me that Cao Cao wasn't guarding you anymore." This time Takauji's [Touki] bullet wasn't pointed at the Anti-Monsters, but rather Leonardo himself.
BANG!
It catapulted through the atmosphere, cleanly piercing through the atmosphere as Leonardo felt the impact strike his forehead. The life quickly leaving his body as he fell down on his back, his Anti-Monsters dissipating into nothingness alongside him.
"That boy must have adored you quite a lot, to throw his life away like that in hopes of buying you just a little more time. Leonardo was it? I'll make an effort to remember that name."
This was a battlefield, the Hero Faction had come to kill him, and he had come to do the exact same. He had no bias towards his opponents.
Takauji watched on with mild interest as Cao Cao staggered to his feet, his body feeling the entirety of the impact he had just experienced.
"Can you still dance?" He questioned, wondering whether or not Cao Cao still had any fire left in him or not.
"Of course I can, even if my comrades fall I will continue. I will continue until I've wiped out every threat to human existence, whether that be Devils, Fallen Angels, or even Dragons."
"Threats? If I remember correctly, part of the alliance's terms was to protect humanity." He scratched his cheek momentarily. "Ah, forget it. We're here to fight, not talk."
Cao Cao called upon [Kahabateiratana], creating warriors that each wielded their own version of [True Longinus], albeit significantly weaker than the definite article.
But he wasn't there, he then proceeded to use [Assaratana] to teleport each of the warriors around Takauji, with their spears all primed towards him, even a few having been sent above him as they lunged downwards.
"Had I been a Devil-Dragon hybrid like Vali Lucifer or Hyoudou Issei, that might've worked." He opened his hand, his [Rotted Flame] springing to life as he took a moment to admire their embers. "But unfortunately, I'm not." He waved his arm, and the flames erupted in all directions, consuming the warriors Cao Cao had created in a matter of moments.
But Cao Cao's eyes were still burning with determination.
"That's some willpower you have, it's a shame you didn't take my offer. But I digress, if you have more to show me Cao Cao, then I'll gladly witness it."
It was obvious to Cao Cao now that the tricks [True Longinus] had up its sleeve weren't going to be of much use, if he were to defeat Takauji, the only way would be through harnessing raw power that surpassed the Dragon's defenses.
And the only way to do that, would be through the seventh orb, [Parinayakaratana].
[Holy Power] started to gather around the tip of his spear at a rate like no other, Cao Cao even beginning to bleed out of his orifices from the sheer amount of energy he was trying to amass at the moment. His bones rattling, his limbs shaking, his mind on the verge of explosion.
It didn't matter to him, he was prepared to bear the weight of all the pain in the world if it meant defeating the opponent before him. He had to win, he had to prove the mission he had set out to accomplish wasn't in vain.
Even the spear started to appear as if it were on the verge of breaking, Takauji remaining still as he patiently awaited to see what Cao Cao would do.
"Go on then."
BOOM!
The entirety of Kyoto's sky was enveloped in a blinding light, an influx of power like no other leaving the alloy of [True Longinus] and merciesley destroying a huge chunk of Urakyoto, hopefully taking Takauji with it.
"Even Pandora shouldn't come out unscathed after being hit with that." Cao Cao murmured, supporting his weight with his spear as his breath grew labored.
"If it had hit, that is."
Cao Cao's face paled, turning around only to be met with the haunting sight of Takauji sitting cross-legged behind him, with his chin resting against his fist.
"Why so surprised? I can use illusions, remember? Don't tell me you already forgot." He yawned, standing upright as he looked upon Cao Cao's horrified expression with plain indifference.
Cao Cao didn't want to believe what he was seeing, but reality would not allow him to avert his eyes.
"How long?" He couldn't help but ask.
"Only once you started charging up that attack." He replied plainly, causing Cao Cao to breath a self-deprecating chuckle.
"Aren't you a little too overpowered?"
"Aren't you a little too underpowered?"
They both smiled, albeit for vastly different reasons.
"Guess I'll have to use my last resort," Cao Cao proceeded to withdraw what looked to be a jar, with a chain wrapped around it to keep whatever laid within it sealed.
What the hell?
Takauji's eyelids lifted, shocked to actually feel his instincts fearing whatever rested inside, an ominous aura soon leaking out of its casing, one that was solely targeted at Takauji and nothing else.
"As if I'd let you," but in Cao Cao's battered state, there was no way for him to unseal the jar faster than Takauji could reach him. Resulting in the Dragon plunging his arm into Cao Cao's abdomen before he could act in time.
"Haha… I thought as much." His corpse fell onto the floor, Takauji grabbing hold of the jar as he felt its wrath endlessly increase. Loathing Takauji with every fiber of its being.
I should probably put this away for now.
He opened up [Vacio], setting aside the writhing jar of malice to be examined for another time.
"Looks like you've finished up as well," Masashige approached him. "How was [True Longinus]?"
"Pretty good, if he had trained a bit longer I might've been in some serious trouble." He admitted.
"Well, it is the strongest Sacred Gear so that's not very surprising. [Dimension Lost] was also somewhat interesting, it's basically small-scale reality manipulation from my perspective. If its user had been more experienced the amount of damage it could've caused might've resulted in some serious casualties."
"Then it's a good thing we Heroes were here to save the day."
"Heroes? Aren't we the bad guys?" Masashige scratched his cheek.
"Are we?"
"I mean they were all supposed to be the Heroes right? They literally called themselves the Hero Faction. And we're a Dragon and Fallen Angel who just killed them all."
Takauji hummed as he deliberated for a moment.
"Huh, maybe we are the bad guys." He shrugged. "Anyhow, what do you want to do now?"
"I was just going to get something to eat, you coming?"
"Sure." Takauji turned around, noticing a hoard of retreating Hero Faction members all attempting to escape Urakyoto. "I should probably deal with that first."
He puffed up his chest, Mana gathering from his lungs into his throat as his cheeks puffed up.
A sea of [Rotted Flames] were unleashed from his esophagus, engulfing the entirety of the remaining intruders in his fire.
"So, what are we getting to eat?" He asked Masashige.
"There's a pretty good Wagyu shop nearby, Azazel took me to it once."
"Sounds good."
And with a mass of charred corpses behind them, the two monsters of the West Youkai Faction left to go have lunch.
